24/11/10 - Ivy House - Small Lake

Weight – 18lb 4oz
Catch – 14 Roach, 14 Perch, 3 Carp, 2 Bream, 1 Gudgeon, 1 Rudd
Weather – Frosty start. Cold & clear day

So a day at Ivy House. Not exactly my favourite venue, however I wanted to see how it was fishing prior to my clubs Christmas match.

My mate Jim wanted to go fishing, so was happy to come along, unfortunately it co-incided with the first serious frost of the year. As I left the house the car temperature gauge read 1c, when I came off the motorway it was down to -1c, but by the time I got to the venue it was -4.5c. I now began to wonder whether there would be any benefit to practicing.

The match would be on the island of the big lake and the latest reports suggested the causeway would be the best area, however on arrival the island was closed. I thought at the time this would be due to the Wednesday Open on the lake, so decided to fish the small lake, which I thought would offer us the best chance of catching.

I put Jim on peg 21, which is probably the best peg on the lake, whilst I settled on peg 20. Fortunately, the lakes hadn’t iced over, but a few more frosts and they soon will be.

Initially settled on 2 lines, caster at 6m and groundbait & caster at 13m. The short line mostly produced tiny wasp type perch, with the odd better fish, but the roach won’t come close. The longer line produced a 1lb+ skimmer and small roach, by toss potting 6 casters every put in, but generally fishing was slow.

The carp came to the lead & double corn, but I had to wait a long time for a bite. I also tried the waggler, but no joy. Jim he had a tough day, catching a small chub & perch, as well as losing a carp.

As for the big lake, I was hoping to walk the match to see what was catching, but there wasn’t any match and the island was in fact OK to fish. Anyway I did have a chat with Gary Etheridge who was practicing on the waggler, but was also struggling due to the cold, but at least he gave me a few pointers.

Looks like the club match could turn into carp bingo.